


The Holiday Get-Together

by orphan_account



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Melendez as a dad basically, melendad is now a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26188774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Neil hates the annual holiday get-together. This year will probably be as terrible as the last...right?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31





	The Holiday Get-Together

**Author's Note:**

> LOL it’s not Christmas, but I found this in my old notes and thought it was funny. Figured you guys might enjoy anyway.

It’s tradition at this point: every year, on the first weekend of December, the surgical department plus its residents gather together at Andrews’ for a little Christmas get-together.

No, Kalu, it’s not quite a party, just a little get-together, and yes, Murphy, it is required. No, it’s not in the handbook, so it’s not technically required, but if you want your job here you will learn to shut up and go anyway.

Neil hates the yearly get-together.

It’s god-awful and filled with socially-acceptable small-talk and terrible party games. The only up-side is the freely-flowing alcohol, something which Neil’s planning to take full advantage of this time around.

Not that he isn’t handling the break-up. He’s not even thinking about that anymore.

“Yes, Murphy, it’s more-or-less required.” Christ. For the last time. “Everyone will be there.”

Murphy opens his mouth, so Neil cuts in:

“No, not everybody, but everyone important will be.”

Murphy still looks dissatisfied with that answer, but he doesn’t say anything. Good.

Neil shows up to the party with a bottle of semi-decent wine under one arm, a shiny, wrapped gift between his hands. We’ll get back to that later.

He lets himself in, seeing Lim and Andrews through the window, and carelessly tosses the present under the tree as he passes by.

“Neil!” Andrews greets, and Lim gives a similar greeting.

Neil holds up the wine bottle in greeting, and Lim pumps her hand in joking victory when she reads the label. He sets the bottle down on the kitchen counter by the others, by this point already familiar with the routine, and he at least pretends to make the rounds before he sets himself up with a glass.

In particular, he nods a head at Kalu, who’s already taking the opportunity to shmooze up Andrews as it’s presented. At least one of his residents gets what this is about.

That and getting shitfaced.

Neil sips his wine, looking around the room.

Andrews is laughing—or pretending to laugh, Neil really can’t tell—at something Kalu is saying across the room, and Lim is nowhere to be found—maybe in the bathroom, or snooping through the rest of the house. The rest of the department already here remain scattered about, sipping wine and making small-talk.

Neil sips some more wine. It’s his first year without—her. Normally they would stick together through this whole thing, silently making fun of the others as they got the chance.

Suddenly, Neil realizes he doesn’t remember how to do this alone.

It’s at this moment that a knock sounds, followed by Browne and Murphy walking in the room. Thank god for distractions.

Neil walks over to greet his two residents, sipping his wine casually before he says, “Browne, Murphy. I’m happy to see you made it in one piece. Here, let me take those for you.”

He accepts the wrapped gifts from them, Browne’s medium-sized and Murphy’s suspiciously small.

“You said to bring something I hate,” Murphy says, “so I brought—”

“Wait, don’t tell me,” Neil interrupts. “You’ll see what it’s for later.”

Browne smiles like she’s played the game before while Murphy just seems confused. Not feeling like explaining when he knows Andrews’ll give the whole spiel again later, Neil decides to just let him stew in it.

“There’s a closet to your right, if you want to hang up your sweaters. Shoes on or off; it doesn’t matter.”

The two both remove their shoes, but Browne decides to leave on her sweater, a nice purple color that matches her dress. Murphy played it safe, wearing something Neil’s seen him come to work in before—unlike Kalu, who came in an atrociously-ugly Christmas sweater.

Jessica convinced Neil to come in an ugly sweater once.

And on that note—

“There’s refreshments and snacks scattered throughout the kitchen and dining room. Help yourselves.”

He finishes his wine then goes to pour another. It’s gonna be a long night.

\----------------

They’re two hours-deep into the holiday extravaganza, and it’s already met the quota for terrible: the small-talk has already moved on from acceptable to atrocious (if Neil has to hear one more comment on the weather…), Murphy and Kalu managed to spill wine on one unlucky guest while Neil’s back was turned, and the fancy ham Jones brings already ran out. Pity. 

Neil’s about ready to go hide in the bathroom when Andrews finally calls it, gathering everyone together in the living room to play White Elephant.

They all sit in a circle, urging the newbies to join in, while Andrews fetches a pair of dice.

“The rules are pretty straightforward,” Andrews says, gesturing sillily with the dice in one hand. “If you roll a seven or an eleven, you get to either choose a gift from under the tree or steal a gift from another guest who has picked one. We go around the circle a few times and wait until the end to open them. Any questions?”

Neil slurps on his wine. There are no questions.

“Great. Let’s get started.”

The game goes about as well as can be expected from the circus in the room. What should be a simple, somewhat-dull child’s game becomes an admittedly-entertaining competition between his three residents, who don’t seem to understand that there are no “good” gifts in White Elephant. 

Kalu, in particular, takes the game way too seriously.

Neil lets out an honest-to-god snort when Kalu throws his hands up in victory at the opportunity to steal Browne’s gift. He covers it with a cough when Lim sends a smirk his way.

The two of them spend their turns stealing the gift back and forth until Neil makes the decision to take it away, knowing neither will dare steal it back. 

Imagine the look on his face when Kalu actually has the gall to reclaim it on his final turn. 

In the end, Neil ends up with Murphy’s gift, Browne gets the tacky snowman candle-holder Neil got rid of, and Kalu and Murphy end up with mystery gifts from Neil’s colleagues. 

Murphy opens his up to find a mug declaring, “Blonde roasts have more fun.”

Kalu’s hard-won gift ends up being a small Keurig—not a bad win, honestly.

And when Neil opens up his gift from Murphy…

He nearly spits out his wine. Luckily, he manages to swallow before laughter bursts out of him. 

“A toothbrush?!” he asks Murphy through his laughter. 

“New toothbrushes are not good,” Murphy explains, looking pleased with himself. It only serves to make Neil laugh harder. 

Before long, the commotion draws the attention of Browne and Kalu, who also find the humor in the situation. 

And for a little bit, Neil forgets about everything. There’s just this moment of humor, bubbling like a sparkling wine. 

In the end?

Not the worst holiday get-together, he has to admit. 

As he looks around the room, he considers: it might be one of the best.


End file.
